Audio
What's Happening?
>> May 14, 2010 Workshop on conflict at radio stations given at Grassroots Radio Conferece 2010 a success!
Feb 17, 2010 FCC Grants noncommercial and LPFM licenses
Jan 15, 2010 FCC allows public radio to raise funds on air for Haiti -- WMNF Tampa raises $93,000 in 12 hours
Jan 9, 2010 Non-profits like KRFC suffer in economic hard times. Support your local media!
April 14, 2009 Colorado Immigration History Panel Listen! (Beet Street description)
March 13, 2009 - Commentary by Betty Aragon on KRFC News regarding a music venue's potential hazards to the Buckingham neighborhood of Fort Collins. Listen!
Feb 27, 2009 - "Charity and Social Justice" commentary by Paul Bame on KRFC News. Listen!
Feb 2009 - KRFC Birthday Bash coming up March 7
Feb 23, 2009 - Portland grassroots station KBOO: lawsuit filed because board of directors won't talk. More info when it comes in.
Feb 20, 2009 - "Freedom to Marry Day" commentary by Cheryl Distaso on KRFC News. Listen!
June 18, 2008 - Interim KRFC manager and former board member Chris Kennison is selected to be the next general manager. Kate Tarasenko expresses some opinions about the selection process, not the person, in KRFC hires permanent GM, Earth still round, and Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine offers this wisdom Boards and Leadership Transition: The Wrong Hire Can Derail a Healthy Organization.
June 14, 2008 - New Struggles at Pacifica. → Community radio reporters Felicitas Martínez and Teresa Bautista shot and killed. → It happens in Canada too: CKLN Radio vs. The New World Order
June 12, 2008 - Court-ordered mediation date still not set.
June 12, 2008 - More on the Struggle at KRCL in Salt Lake City
May 28, 2008 - Another station struggles TERRIBLE RECEPTION FOR WYPR
May 28, 2008 - KRFC and SGR still searching for a court-ordered mediation date
May 12, 2008 - KRFC Chief Fuses Fun, Work in Coloradoan
Mar 26, 2008 - Press commentary "Help Save KRFC From Itself" in Fort Collins NOW
Mar 6, 2008 - Press coverage of our lawsuit: Rocky Mountain Chronicle, Coloradoan, Press Release
Feb 12, 2008 - Letter to editor about KRFC nixing Jim Hightower: SLIPPERY SUPPORT
Jan 31, 2008 - Letter to editor about KRFC nixing Jim Hightower: INGENUOUS CANCELLATION
Jan 31, 2008 - Salt Lake City community radio KRCL is getting a corporate makeover. Is community radio done for?
Jan 17, 2008 - Newspaper article KRFC Signs Off on Hightower
Nov 30, 2007 - KRFC general manager Pam Turner resigns. Chris Kennison named interim manager.
Nov 2, 2007 - David Barsamian from Alternative Radio, one of the shows cancelled from KRFC, speaks in Fort Collins. Video from his talk: Grassroots Community Radio: an Endangered Resource is showing on cable channel 22.
May 31, 2007 - KRFC announces Pam Turner as new general manager.
Apr 22, 2007 - Save Grassroots Radio (SGR) supporters view and discuss the film The U.S. Vs. John Lennon.
Apr 5, 2007 - Responding to concerns from KRFC, Open KRFC takes a new name, Save Grassroots Radio!.
Apr 2, 2007 - KRFC switches to new program schedule. Among the many changes:
- Free Speech Radio News, the daily half-hour evening-oriented news program is cancelled.
- Democracy Now!, the daily one-hour morning-oriented news program is moved from 6pm to 7pm daily and will not air at all on Friday. Friday's show may be available at 5AM Saturday morning.
- Counterspin, the weekly half-hour media criticism show is cancelled.
- Alternative Radio, the weekly one-hour public affairs show is cancelled.
Mar 30, 2007 - KRFC's lawyer responds to our March 16 letter demanding we cease and desist using the Open KRFC name, denying that anyone associated with our group could possibly have a legal good faith reason for the membership list, that the board has done nothing wrong nor illegal and will do no investigation, and that KRFC board of directors will no longer meet with us, preferring not to "witness any more displays like that of Paul Bame curling up in his chair and whimpering that he didn't 'feel safe'". The letter states, with no supporting facts, that the three members dismissed "are devoted to carrying out a mission that runs counter to the current mission of KRFC to provide 'great radio that is local, non-commercial, and volunteer-powered'".
Mar 19, 2007 - Article: KRFC station manager resigns in the Coloradoan. See also the Coloradoan's reader comments (no longer available). (local copy)
Mar 17, 2007 - Open KRFC Birthday Party! and a Chronicle article about it
Mar 16, 2007 - Attorneys Lonn Heymann and Walter Gerash send a letter to KRFC requesting the Board investigate and report on the possible KRFC liability connected with unfair membership revocation (C.R.S. 7-126-302), and denial of a membership list request (C.R.S. 7-136-102).
Beth Flowers announces to KRFC programmers that she is transitioning from staff to volunteer.
Mar 15, 2007 - Next KRFC Board Meeting, 7PM at the station, public welcome. Board meeting was held, but the customary announcement on the KRFC web site was missing.
Mar 14, 2007 - Article: Battle Stations - Open KRFC continues the fight to address grievances with 88.9 FM in the Fort Collins Weekly.
Mar 13, 2007 - Attorneys Lonn Heymann and Walter Gerash send a letter to KRFC encouraging them to satisfy a legitimate and legally past-due request for the membership list by the 14th. No membership list was forthcoming as of 22-Mar.
Feb 22, 2007 - Sandy, Sally, and Don make a legal request (C.R.S. 7-136-102) for the membership list.
Dec 17, 2006 - KRFC board meeting not at the designated time/location. GM says it was cancelled.
Nov 2, 2006 - KRFC board nominating committee offers 3 candidates for the board who are affirmed -- two are incumbants Jack and Saul. Neither of the two interviewees who support Open KRFC were nominated.
Susan resigns from the board giving no reason. GM announces first check from Corporation for Public Broadcasting [1] [2] [3] arrives.
Sep 7, 2006 - Open KRFC-ers attend the KRFC board meeting, which was not at the announced location.
Aug 7, 2006 - Open KRFC holds first meeting with a very good lawyer from Denver.
June 6, 2006 - The KRFC board denies the requests sent by Open KRFC in mid-May (board's letter here).
June 1, 2006 - Several Open KRFC members attend the board meeting, reading the petitioner's group narrative (our story) and emphasizing a desire and commitment to dialog and mediation.
May 26, 2006 - KRFC board accepts:
From: GregKrush@cs.com
Date: Fri, May 26, 2006 11:03The board already has a very full agenda for the June 1st meeting. open krfc may have 15 minutes to make a presentation. Given the full agenda your presentation time should fall between 8:30 and 9:00pm. As always all are welcome to attend the entire board meeting. The meeting will be at the station at 7:00 PM Thursday, June 1.
Greg Krush
krfc Board President
May 25, 2006 - Open KRFC accepts:
Thank you for your invitation to dialogue at your meeting. We would like thirty to sixty minutes to give a presentation and hold followup discussion. Thanks again.Sincerely,
Open KRFC
May 21, 2006 - Board replies to letter below:
From: GregKrush@cs.com
Date: Sun, May 21, 2006 20:18
To: openkrfc@riverrock.orgThe board received your e mail of 5/15/06. If you would like to present your ideas you may do so at the next meeting of the board scheduled for Thursday June 1st. If you wish to be put on the agenda respond to either Beth or myself at least one week prior to the meeting.
Greg Krush
KRFC Board President
May 15, 2006 - Open KRFC sends this letter to email lists at KRFC and this letter to the KRFC board's email list.
May 6, 2006 - KRFC spring pledge drive ends.
Late April/Early May - Paul is removed from the news team email list in a "purge" of the list by management. For the first time since the list was created, new subscriptions to the list require moderator approval.
April 29, 2006 - KRFC Board of Directors sends a form letter to "correct misconceptions" in reply to several who wrote thoughtful, impassioned, and sometimes quite detailed letters including offers of assistance.
April 28, 2006 - KRFC spring pledge drive begins.
April 26, 2006 - Informal conversations with management strongly suggest the board has not accepted the offer of mediation.
April 10, 2006 - Manager from another grassroots radio station offers to mediate.
April 9, 2006 - Third petitioner's meeting hears reports from three working groups.
March 25, 2006 - Petitioners hold first meeting.
March 22, 2006 - KRFC Board of Directors posts two documents to the KRFC web site in the board of directors section:
- Open Letter from the Board: which describes the rationale for "firing" three long-time volunteers including two founding former board members.
- March 16 Minutes: documents the meeting where the new mission was adopted despite the petition, plus the discussion surrounding the above "firing".
March 20, 2006 - Three KRFC volunteer/programmers receive notice their membership revoked by the board of directors on March 16. The loophole used denies them the due process of the KRFC Volunteer Expectations.
March 16, 2006 - Petition deadline and KRFC board meeting, resulting in two official statements from the board:
"March 16 marked the end of the petition period; no valid petition was presented.""Dear Don,
Since you are the only person who contacted us with the physical petitions, we are sending you this letter. At the KRFC Board meeting last night, March 17, 2006, with legal counsel the board unanimously rejected the petitions. The petitions presented to us contained only names, without addresses or any other contact information. Our legal counsel informs us that this is not a valid petition because we were unable to validate the member status of the signors.
Beth Flowers for the KRFC Board of Directors"
March 15, 2006 - 89 signatures delivered to the KRFC board of directors on a petition not to adopt the proposed mission without a membership vote.
March 10, 2006 - Board shuts down KRFC's public discussion forums. Ironically the last sentence in the last comment is:
I'm comforted to see that Foskin has come a long way since June 8, 2005 when he wrote: "I will not be associated with (nor give freely my creative time and effort to) a group of individuals who are turning this radio station into a Stalinist camp where no one has the right to voice his or her opinions as to how this station is run and operated."You can read the removed mission discussion here.
March 10, 2006 - Board "steps away from the dialog":
From: "Beth Flowers" <beth@krfcfm.org>
Date: Fri, March 10, 2006 18:09Dear Paul,
I know you and others have a lot of hope that the round table
discussions will get us past this impasse. However, at our board meeting
last night, after much discussion, we have concluded that there is no
common ground for us anymore. Call it irreconcilable differences. We are
stepping away from the dialog and moving on.Best Regards,
Beth Flowers for the KRFC Board of Directors
March 10, 2006 - Paul, a primary administrator of KRFC's main computer server, has his computer access suspended.
March 4, 2006 - Two meetings occur in the strategic planning process series. Although difficult, people including board members seem encouraged about starting regular "round table" dialogs to start working out differences.
March 3, 2006 - Board answers letter:
From: "Jack Armstrong"
Subject: Mission Statement
Date: Fri, March 3, 2006 13:21Paul,
At our meeting last night (March 2, 2006) the Board of Directors decided
that the 21 day period should begin on Feb. 24th, the likely date that
everyone would have received the letter about the new Mission Statement,
Vision Statement and Values Statement. This means that anyone wanting
to present a petition to the Board must do so by March 16, 2006.We also decided that we will post a link, on the Strategic Planning page
of the KRFC website, to the relevant section of the By-Laws (Article XI)
for anyone that wants to pursue the outlined process, or just to inform
themselves.Please feel free to directly contact the Board with any further
questions or concerns that you may have. We will be happy to answer
your questions.Jack Armstrong
KRFC Board of Directors member
for the KRFC Board
February 27, 2006 - Letter written to board asking when people will be informed of their right to petition and offering to help.
February 26, 2006 - Begin drafting petition:
The KRFC board of directors unanimously approved a proposed amendment to the KRFC mission statement in a meeting on February 16th, 2006. We feel these significant changes may represent a change in the spirit of KRFC's founding philosophy. A full vote of the membership seems a reasonable course to take in this case given the implications of these changes on present and future volunteers and members of KRFC.In order to prevent those proposed amendments from being accepted without a vote by members, we members of KRFC sign this petition in accordance with Article XI of the KRFC bylaws.
February 21, 2006 - Surface-mail letter sent announcing new mission from KRFC Board.
February 16, 2006 - KRFC Board unanimously votes to adopt proposed mission. (compare original and proposed missions here)
February 4, 2006 - Public KFRC strategic planning meetings begin, with the first task to change the mission statement.
January 26, 2005 - First documented opposition to changing the mission statement to a board member by members and volunteers who said in part: "implementing the Mission Statement, as it is, is of more concern to us than changing it" (more history).
January 7, 2005 - Board minutes say "Everyone suggested that the mission statement needs to be shortened to 1 or 2 sentences"